☰

ZingW

Suzanne Shepherd, The Sopranos and Goodfellas Actor, Dies at 89

Suzanne Shepherd, an actor known for her roles in “The Sopranos” and “Goodfellas,” died Friday morning in her home in New York City, her agent confirmed to Variety. She was 89.

Shepherd portrayed Mary DeAngelis, the mother of Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco), in HBO’s crime drama series “The Sopranos,” as well as the mother of Lorraine Bracco’s character Karen Hill in 1990’s “Goodfellas.” She also had roles in “Jacob’s Ladder” (1990), “Trees Lounge” (1996), “Lolita” (1997), “American Cuisine” (1998), “Living Out Loud” (1998), “Requiem for a Dream” (2000), “A Dirty Shame” (2004), “Harold” (2008), “The Week Of” (2018) and “The Performance” (2023), among other films.

Related Stories

Photo illustration of a robot's hand holding a magnifying glass VIP+

Cloud Adoption Key to Media Business Exploiting AI

pop culture legos

These Pop-Culture Lego Sets Are All on Sale For Prime Day, Just in Time For Holiday Gifting

Shepherd was born on Oct. 31, 1934. She made her acting debut in the 1988 romcom “Mystic Pizza,” starring Julia Roberts, and appeared in such films as “Working Girl,” “Uncle Buck” and “Second Sight” before working on Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.”

Popular on Variety

On the television side, she guest-starred in “Law & Order,” “Third Watch,” “Ed,” “Blue Bloods,” “Deadline,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”

Fellow “Sopranos” actor Ray Abruzzo paid tribute to Shepherd on Instagram, writing, “Sad to hear of the passing of Suzanne Shepherd. A force of nature. Actress, teacher.”

In addition to her acting career, Shepherd directed in theaters across the U.S. and worked as an acting coach for over four decades at her own studio in New York. The upcoming documentary “A Gift of Fire” will chronicle her career as an acting teacher.

She is survived by her daughter Kate Shepherd, son-in-law Miles McManus and granddaughter Isabelle Shepherd.

Read More About:

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXN%2Fjp%2BgpaVfo7K4v46srLOZnqOybr%2FHnqehnaKZeqWxwJ1kraCVYsCwvNGapairXWZ%2FdIGXaWhrbmRk

Jenniffer Sheldon

Update: 2024-01-30

<< 'Golda' depicts a key moment in Israeli history. Its director sees parallels to today

Margot Robbie News, Pictures, and Videos >>